Category Archives: Communicative teaching (CLT)

Communicative teaching (CLT)

COGNITIVE APPROACH TO LEARNING

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Learning is directly linked to the amount of thinking in our own brains. If we are feeling good doing that, success will follow.

Let’s face the reality. No-one who really wants to learn a foreign language wants to learn it in a behavioristic environment if they have observed any modern lessons. What I am trying to do in these articles is to give language teachers a practical window to communicative language teaching (CLT) by combining the cognitive and constructive approach to teaching. I have a separate article on behaviourism for those who wish to look at those ideas.

Once again using CLT is a question of beliefs. Not just any beliefs, but beliefs which have been verified in practice over many decades.If the teacher believes the principles below are valid and puts them in practice, the lessons are bound to appeal to the students. But we teachers need to justify why we are using a particular method and what the beliefs behind it are.

If the students see that you are devoted to teaching and helping them, they will realize you really have thought the things through and they rely on you guiding them or at least give you a chance to show where the new method is taking you.

Cognitive approach of learning

In applying the cognitive approach of learning we believe that every student has to develop any new idea in their own minds and connect it with the knowledge they already have. Nobody really knows how learning takes place but we agree on the idea that the brains have to be activated properly. Listening to the teacher talking to the whole class does not necessarily lead to learning and memorization. Learning is a complicated intellectual process where each individual has to be active.

Well, how do we activate the brains then?

Traditionally the activation has been done by the teacher’s presentation followed by questions. This is still valid with young pupils and in some other subjects than languages.

The older the students get and the more they master the language, the more should we rely on giving them problems to solve or questions to be answered in groups. The answers they give do not matter that much. The process in discussing the question in the target language and finding possible answers to it is what matters.

The process is more important than the outcome. Learning takes place during the process, as a by-product of all the activities.

“But, … my students are not able to do any of that”, you might say. You may be right but all the things suggested below are possible AFTER you have dealt with the textbook chapter with its vocabulary and ideas first.

My basic philosophy in CLT is based on three premises:
  1. Insist on your students working on textbook chapters very hard, go through the chapters systematically using mainly student-centered approaches. Get them talking! See my articles on how to do it.
  2. Aim at having free discussion sessions at the end of lessons or unit and apply modern pair and group work techniques teaching all language skills.
  3. Teach the students how they can learn better, justify your views and suggestions and rely on the fact that language and life skills will be a by-product of this approach.

In some classes following Point 1 will work miracles and Point 2 may succeed with a little bit of differentiation. To sound convincing in Point 3 you have to have your own ideas clear in your mind. Very many of my articles touch upon Point 3, too. Be patient at first and be pleased with modest progress and presentations. You will see the difference in a few months. Rome was not built in a day. Neither can you change your teaching over night.

“Ok, but where do I find the time to do all that?”, you ask me. By doing three things:

  • Make the students study the chapter at home in advance so that they understand the content. This will speed up the activities in the lesson.
  • Most activities should be oral with very little writing. Instead of silencing the students let them talk and ignore the mistakes they make at this point.
  • Be brave and skip the chapters in the textbook you or the students do not find stimulating. It is a blessing, in most countries, that we teachers are allowed to choose the materials for teaching.

IN a few weeks or months it may be interesting for you to test how capable your students are in doing a more challenging CLT task in groups.

After the ‘compulsory’ orientation engage the students in doing one of tasks below. Or use a task of your own. In a couple of minutes they are working in groups learning more than you could ever do using some other method. Smiling, forgetting they are at school at all. Believe me, I have experienced it thousands of times.

The influence of positive emotions and attitudes to learning is overwhelming.

The students will learn …

  • through a process of observation; they are given sample sentences and they have to figure out the grammatical rule on the basis of them instead of the rule be given to them
  • by linking old memories and experiences to new ones; we link the formulation of comparative forms of adverbs to that of advjectives and make conclusions OR collect all information we have on Australia so far and then make questions that we want to find an answer to
  • by using creative critical thinking; how can we develop public transport in our town and which obstacles we might encounter (having first studied texts about the topic)
  • by working on concepts and categorization; developing mind-maps is ideal; central word, for example, energy and the mind-map is developed in groups and presented to others later on
  • by filling in information gaps; a story is divided in two and your pair asks you questions to find out what is missing in his/her part of the story
  • through problem solving; how can we save energy in ordinary households or how can we improve recycling in our town

One of the big changes in my teaching in the ‘revelation days’ in the 1990s was to observe the time I spend talking to the whole class, which little by little led to a situation where I restricted my speaking only to maybe 10 minutes in a 75-minute lesson. How? By re-organizing the lesson the way I explain in the articles under ‘The structure of a textbook-based lesson’.

My own experiences of learning languages

By now you must have realized that the Cognitive Approach is much more student-oriented than the Behavioristic one. It also gives the teacher a lot of freedom to try out creatively what works in his/her classes and adapt the style of teaching accordingly.

Teachers who use this philosophy also understand that language lessons are not the only places where languages can be learnt. So, we need to encourage our students to make use of all media in the target language, speak English fearlessly to strangers, read magazines and books in English or do anything else that improves their language skills.

My first memory and source of motivation of learning English properly was when an American choir visited my home town Oulu in the 1960s. I had been studying English for a couple of years but understood only a few words in the songs. However, the songs sounded so beautiful that I started to find English songs myself and finally ended up recording pop songs from Radio Luxemburg, writing down the lyrics and singing along with the tape.

By the time I went to senior high school at the age of 16 I knew hundreds of English songs and I had even learnt most of the English grammar subconsciously thanks to the songs. Somehow I knew how to write unknown words even if I had never seen them. This ‘voluntary project’ also increased my English vocabulary drastically.

After one grammar exam I was terribly disapponted with myself because I had changed the active sentences differently from the others and I thought I had made a mistake. I was surprised when the teacher pointed out that my way of doing it was also right even if it had never been taught to us. Some other teacher in those days might have marked my version wrong because it had not been taught.

It was something like this: My aunt sent us Christmas presents. >> We were sent Christmas presents by our aunt. (taught at school) / Christmas presents were sent (to) us by our aunt. (my version). What I am trying to say is taht some of your students know much more English than you know thanks to their hobbies or interests.

Unfortunately I had no chance to enjoy the benefits of the Cognitive Approach in English lessons over the twelve years I studied it. We never spoke freely in class and I wrote only one ‘essay’ which had to be a joke. It took more than two weeks to get them back marked because other teachers kept on reading them. Frankly speaking, now that I look back my own English lessons were a joke in itself.

Communicative teaching (CLT), Listening

CLT-TYPE LISTENING TASKS, FREE TIME LISTENING

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The best CLT type of listening exercises in my opinion are the ones which resemble those in real life. Tasks where the students show their understanding by responding appropriately to what the others say.

To me listening is a natural extension of speaking. At its best these two skills are intertwined in lessons just like they are in normal life. Thus all speaking situations turn to listening practices at the same time.

Ideally listening skills develop when free speaking and listening are integrated in lessons or in free time, not in tests and exams.

Listening skills are rehearsed when …

  1. we study a chapter in our textbook or we do a listening exercise in our workbook
  2. we have a listening comprehension test of some kind (2. is the topic of the next article)
  3. we advise students how they can practise listening skills in their free time doing something they enjoy and do not get tired of
  4. listening is integrated with anything else we do orally in class (oral task on vocabulary, oral planning of a writing task in groups, practise grammar creatively in groups, task- or inquiry-based learning with a lot of planning and talking in groups)

Some examples of typical CLT-type listening tasks

What we are looking for in these CLT tasks is that the situation could happen in real life too. We just have to have some pre-task first to make sure enough material has been covered before the final task.

  • Drawing or following a route on a map according to directions
  • Doing a set of things following oral instructions
  • Drawing a picture as it is described by someone
  • Drawing weather forecast symbols on a map of a country as predicted
  • Filling in a form, a table or a chart as instructed
  • Responding in an appropriate manner to phrases in real-life situations ‘How are you today?’ ‘I’m very fine. And you, sir?‘ What kind of table do you want to have?’ ‘A table for three. My brother comes a bit later.’ ‘Is this all your luggage?’ ‘Yes, one suitcase and this bag.’
  • Taking notes on a phone; a shopping list, home chore instructions etc.
  • Interviewing a person and taking notes for the article

An example how to use photos in practising listening and grammar

Elementary school:

Linking a word or a sentence you hear with a photo. First together and then the same in groups. In weak groups you may need to differentiate and give the phrases to some students who read the sentences to the others. Good students produce sentences of their own.

1 In which photos can you see …? water, castle, river, food, sea, harbour, park, pond, people walking/sitting/running ... Here we are practising words and grammar at the same time. You can even fool around a bit: French fries, helicopter which are not visible in any of the photos.

2 Which photo? There are a lot of people enjoying a day out. There are many motor boats. There is a bridge that can open in the middle. There are people rowing boats. … Practising grammar There is/are structure at the same time!

3 Which photo? Student’s response: “I think this photo is the most interesting one because people are doing many things in it and the weather is great. /There is nothing green in this photo but a lot of blue and brown. …”

Photo 1Photo 2
Photo 3Photo 4
Photo 5Photo 6
You may have many sets of photos which are circulated from one group to another. If you laminate the photos, you can use them until you retire. And recycle them to your successor.

Junior high class, the same photos as above

Which photo am I taking about? A student is the speaker in exercise 1, 2 and 3. The instructions for the student are in the boxes below.

1 I will describe one of the photos with three sentences and you guess which one I am talking about. ( Start with ‘There is ... or There are …’)

2 I will describe one of the photos and describe what people are doing NOW in the background in this place (photo) even if you cannot see them. Which photo am I talking about? (linked with practising present continuous tense, much more demanding than having obvious photos since the speaker has to use a lot of imagination)

3 I will describe one of the photos and describe what people did in this place (photo) last week even if you were not there. Which photo am I talking about? (the past tense)

N.B. In 2 and 3 we have no way of knowing how much the students understood but at least they try their best and can always ask for repetition. Anyway, these tasks are more like games than testing and there in no stress in the whole situation.

4 The teacher or a good student is the speaker. One photo per pair and all photos are different.

4 All of you have a different photo. I will explain about one of the photos and you will have to raise your hand if you think I am talking about your photo. (Not too exciting since you have a pair to help you, a task that can be used at any level).

Senior high classes

Example 1, retelling a story, the photos above

Step 1: One student makes up a story based on the 4 – 6 photos above and the others take notes. One idea in the story must be true but it is not reveled to the others.

Step 2: The others take turns and retell the story using their notes.

Step 3: The other students try to find out which part of the story was true.

Example 2, co-operative learning

The class is planning a class trip to London and they need to decide where to go in London each day. (All groups have the same topic. Having a different topic would make the task even more demanding)

Step 1: Students are given a topic for the home group. They talk about it and take notes.

Step 2: The students explain he main points of their group in their next group and once again the others take notes. If there are,say, five groups everyone has to listen to five short presentations and take notes.

Step 3: The students return to their home group and discuss all the matters they have learnt. There may be a wrap-up session at the end of the lesson.

Example 3 An opinion line, understanding at sentence level

I totally agree.I partially agree.I partially disagreeI totally disagree.
  1. Motorways are a good solution to traffic jams.
  2. Roundabouts are ridiculous near the centre of towns.
  3. 22-metre trucks should be forbidden on small country roads.
  4. Electric cars are the solution for future cars.

You make an ‘opinion line’with signs in the class, such as above. The students hear an argument and move to the sign they think is ok with them. The teacher asks some of them to justify their opinion.

As you can see CLT-type listening tasks are rather easy to come by if you connect them with speaking activities.

LISTENING AT HOME AND IN FREE TIME

  • Which of the listening strategies below do you know your students make use of in their free time?
  • Have you done something to activate them?
  1. Listen to English songs and try to catch the message in them or write the lyrics down on paper. Karaoke versions have the lyrics too. If you want to find the lyrics of a song, write the name of the song and the word ‘lyrics’ in the google box. I used to listen to hundreds of songs and sing along.
  2. When looking for information in the internet, also listen to Youtube videos and documentaries on any topic that interests you. This is an excellent way to learn about your hobbies. Internal motivation guarantees learning better than aything else.
  3. Watch English-speaking films or TV series with or without captions. This option is avaialble in many rented films.
  4. Listen to English programmes on the radio or daily news, for example. In the early 70s I used to listen to Radio Luxenberg for songs and BBC news on the radio or TV. If you already know the content in your mother tongue, understanding the same things in English is rewarding.
  5. Borrow e-books from the library and if you know the content, all the better because undertanding becomes easier. I wish I could have done this. More and more people enjoy listening to e-books.
  6. While playing video games, listen to the speech there too. My sons used this source a lot. It is great fun but at the same time educational.
  7. Read any texts that interests you to expand your vocabulary needed in listening. There is no understanding without words!
  8. I would very much like the students to give one-minute presentations on what they have learnt when listening to media sources in their free time.
  9. Finally, let the students find their own style to improve their listening skills.
Assessment, Communicative teaching (CLT), Pronunciation, Speaking

TESTING SPEAKING SKILLS

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Every lesson means rehearsing for the real-life ‘test’ far in the future. Eliminate FEAR in talking!

How to get started in testing

  • It is wise to practice speaking a lot in pairs and groups before you even think about testing.
  • Practise pronunciation and reading aloud in every lesson so that the students feel confident about their pronunciation.
  • Never correct the pupils/students when they are speaking in pairs or groups unless they ask you to. If you do, they will stop talking due to fear of making mistakes and, even worse, may feel humiliated.
  • Give general feedback and comments to the whole class after the practice sessions. Use assessment for learning to find the strengths and weaknesses of the class.
  • Make progress with students with small, enjoyable, even humorous and relaxing steps. Rely on results emerging after a few months.
  • Make the students come in front of the class: in pairs or groups – each one saying something for 5 seconds at least, later on 10 – 30 seconds, a minute, five minutes – just to use English and allow them to have a note with key words or ideas. Make it always a positive experience!
  • Remember that coming in front of the whole class may be scary and it needs to be a positive experience from the very beginning.
  • Practice listening skills too since the pupils are supposed to respond to what the others say. Teach appropriate phrases of response, too.

VITAL: Eliminate fear from practice and test situations – first evaluate the pupils/students in lessons and in other situations. Then give them individual feedback to encourage them to improve in speaking. Speaking skills should be part of the evaluation and noted in giving grades.

Agree on the criteria to be used in assessment. In elementary classes it has to be very simple but in senior high/sixth form you can you the official final exam criteria. Each country has its own criteria but the European Framework is widely accepted. It has skill levels from A1, A2 B1, B2, C1 to the highest native level C2. Many employers use this scaling.

Start with self and peer evaluation in class and encourage the students to use their phones for recording at home too. Allow them to listen to themselves while evaluating themselves. The same if they are assessing other students. Evaluating oneself and others is highly motivating.

Personal teacher–pupil feedback sessions before or after a test are most valuable: ask for the student’s self-evaluation first and then give positive feedback. Encourage, look at the criteria and have gentle reference to challenges. Learning to speak a foreign language is a long process and everybody wants to improve their skills in speaking.

The time for official oral tests/evaluation comes later on. When that time comes, use good and bad examples to give the students an idea of what is required of them. The evaluation criteria has to be explained and opened up at the same time.

The real test in speaking takes place abroad. In Venice, Italy, for example.

Testing individuals

Depending on the age of the pupils (6 – 15), they

  • can send me a 30-second or a minute-long phone-recorded speech or
  • I can have a two-to-five minute face to face discussion with them (I ask them one of the 5 – 10 questions given in advance and they can practise their answers at home and finally I ask them a ‘surprise’ question on a topic we had earlier in class)
  • for senior high students I use modified final exams

Testing groups

Groups can easily be evaluated while they are discussing in class. It makes sense to tell the groups in advance that they will be evaluated in order to encourage them to practise at home to get the best possible result. However, the students need to be given some advice.

  • Do not try to dominate the discussion. Show your excellence in drawing the quiet ones into the discussion by asking them questions or comments.
  • Use phrases that indicate you agree, disagree with the speaker. Or maybe you did not get the point or want to have justifications for an argument. So: ‘I disagree with you because …’. I fully agree with you but …’ ‘I’m sorry I missed your point.’ ‘Sorry, I did not get that’ ‘I’m not sure what you mean. Can you give us an example.’ etc.
  • Fight for your space and indicate you want to say your opinion.
  • Be ready to take the group feedback constructively and the feedback your teacher gives to you personally.

Modelling a group oral for an advanced class

In this activity we model the assessment of different types of speaking activities.

  • The class is divided into groups of four. Preparation time (10 min).
  • Each group is given a task of their own.
  • Each group member will receive a number (1-4).
  • One group at a time will discuss fro 10 min (total time 40 min all groups)
  • The others will observe and assess the performance of the given number using the given criteria. Write the number of the student you observe on the handout.
  • Feedback is given in groups (1s, 2s, 3s, 4s).
  • In brief, each group carries out a different speaking activity.The other groups observe and assess the activities.

Choose your topic. The order of presentations is random.

Group 1 Problem solving: You work for the Ministry of Tourism planning a holiday resort. You need to decide which facilities to have there. You can choose the place for the resort yourselves.

Group 2 Debate on the effect of tourism in your country. The argument: Tourism is good for our economy. Two of you are for the idea and two against (no matter what you really think about the matter).

Group 3 One of you is the tourist guide with his/her tourist group in a place of your choice. The guide describes the place and the tourists are making questions and comments. They also compare the place and habits to their own country/region.

Group 4 A magazine reporter is interviewing participants of the ‘Tour of Central Europe’ and their experiences in different countries. Each one of you has to say their opinion about the countries in question.

Group 5 A group of teachers are deciding where to go on a class trip with a class that all of them teach. They are also discussing what things need to be taken account of in the planning.

The criteria for group discussions are similar to the criteria we had for writing but now we have also interaction and pronunciation to be assessed.

Communicative teaching (CLT), Grammar, Yleinen

WORK STATION technique

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One of my colleagues fell in love and spent all weekends in another town. On her way back home by train she had little time to prepare lessons for Mondays so she developed her own way of using ‘work stations’ in her lessons. And, to her surprise, with great success.

‘Work stations’ (or Station work) is just another special type of group work. One of my absolute favourites among lesson types. I have been using it for decades a couple times a month at least. It works well with all kinds of students and is a particularly good way:

  • to have a different but effective, fast-pacing kind of lesson
  • to change a teacher-oriented lesson into a student-oriented one
  • to differentiate teaching by offering choices for the students
  • to enhance social skills in the groups and let the students help each other
  • to practise for a future exam

The example above implies that ‘station work’ does not need to be a burden for the teacher. It may well be based on the exercises in the workbook. We only have to organize the lesson so that we do the very same things in the groups that we would do in a teacher-oriented lesson.

Central pedagogical ideas

  • A new motivation point after the transition to a new table.
  • Everyone proceeds at their own pace.
  • Students help each other (the social emphatic aspect).
  • Teaching others is a great way to learn yourself (the internalization aspect).
  • The teacher can be mobile or work in a particular group .

Essential practical advice on organizing work stations

  1. The students are forced to be active and co-operate.
  2. Usually 4 -5 groups, 4 – 6 students in each group
  3. The desks are organized as in the photo below
  4. Time in each group depends on the length of the lesson
  5. First 5 min for organizing the groups, at the end 5 min for wrap up
  6. Group members are randomly selected, mixed-ability groups but one student is appointed group leader
  7. Each group has two sets of the same instructions on the numbered desk (this way everyone can see the written instructions)
  8. There are more exercises than there is time for (and the students know it), extra tasks are available and marked with *
  9. There is one extra task for all groups (for example: Ask each other the words of a particular chapter)
  10. Two sets of correct answers (if there are any) are placed in an envelope on the desk.
  11. Announce the change of groups 2 min beforehand, and let the students check the answers. Moving to the next table takes 30 seconds.
  12. Usually the 1st group takes a bit longer and the last one is shorter.

Look at the two examples below. By all means, do not hesitate to make your own version. The 1st time may seen troublesome but once you get a hang of the things to remember you will realize this is one of the best lessons types ever. I hope to be able to add a video on a ‘work stations’ lesson at some point.

Types of tasks in each group

  • 1 Listening to a recording of the chapter. In the corner of the room or with headphones on. Reading the text or part of it aloud. (See my recommendations on the structure of ordinary lessons.)
  • 2 Questions on the text + answers, or explain the chapter content in own words, or tell a story related to the chapter.
  • 3 Various vocabulary exercises, orally and/or written ones.
  • 4 Practise the latest grammar point orally and /or in writing.
  • 5 Let the students choose whatever woorkbook exercises they fancy.
An illustration how ‘station work’ can be used when we practise for an exam just before the exam itself.
  • Use the same types of tasks as you intend to use in the exam itself.
  • 1 A couple of dictation sentences (read by you or a student) A short reading task: done alone and checked together with justifications for the correct answers.
  • 2 and 4 Tasks testing recently taught grammar points, preferrably three difficulty levels (See my recommendations on ‘differentiation’ under heading ‘Grammar’
  • 3 Crossword or any other vocab task, preferrably three difficulty levels 5 Practise orally the kind of questions you wish your students to be able to answer in the exam or have oral ideas for a written essay for more advanced students .

Students really enjoy ‘station work’ lessons since they can co-operate in a relaxed atmosphere and time passes quickly away and they have options on what to focus on.

About me and the blog, Communicative teaching (CLT)

ABOUT ME AND MY AIMS

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My name is Raimo Junnikkala and my articles mostly deal with communicative language teaching (CLT). I want to help language teachers who wish to modernize their teaching and apply CLT principles more efficiently.

I am a recently retired teacher of English who also ran the IB Section of Turku Teacher Training School for nearly 30 years. I have worked as a teacher trainer for 42 years in Finland and recently in Oman as well.

Depending on the feedback I will get on my articles I am considering having them in Podcasts as well to elaborate the ideas. These articles are actually a story of how I gradually came to realize how one can learn all aspects of a foreign language if the teacher knows what to do. There are lots of acticles on CLT in the internet but my ideas are directly linked to the work in class. Teachers need practical advice more than theory.

When I started my career I hated the idea of my students spending more than 10 years without learning to master English, without learning to speak and communicate in English. As a result I decided I would not let it happen to my students. Still, it took me many years to learn the tricks of the trade.

I used to hate my lessons but I at first did not have a clue how to change them. Not until I learnt to apply CLT in full.

The aims of my articles are very practical:

Turku Teacher Training School
Lunch hall
2nd floor staircase

I was inspired by two things to write these articles:

  1. In my IB years I learnt that far too many students, especially in Central Europe and the Middle East, do not learn to speak and use English properly. With 42 years of experience I know how it can be done.
  2. Working in Oman as a language teaching expert a few years ago I realized it is practical tips on how to apply CLT principles that the teachers need. I will keep theory to minimum.

At present I am living in Sauvo, southern Finland, close to the sea with my wife. My four children and their five grand children are living on their own in Oulu and Turku. My favourite hobbies include going on singing gigs with a dance band, playing icehockey with my friends, renovating my house and picking up blueberries in July.

MOTTO: Learning starts when the teacher stops talking.

Don’t worry! This argument is a bit provocative but there is a lot of truth in it. It took me a couple of years before I really understood what Rogers meant by this argument. These articles are about the application of this and other CLT principles.

My second article under this heading is about my own history as a language learner and teacher. It will give you some perspective to how language teaching has changed over the last 50 years, and how and why I completely changed my ways of teaching English in 1986.

Rolling stones gather no moss!

Communicative teaching (CLT), Historical perspectives

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

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I felt something was wrong in my lessons. Deep inside I was ashamed of my methods of teaching English. But I was scared to death of the reactions of my students, their parents and my colleagues if I decided to try out the CLT principles. That was in the 1980s. I’m glad I did it anyway.

Communicative language teaching (CLT) is not a unified method but rather a collection principles and beliefs on how foreign languages should be taught.

What else is meant by CLT, communicative language teaching?

Communicative language teaching (CLT) methology actually consists of a set of principles and beliefs on

  • how foreign languages should be taught and are learnt
  • how languages are used in real life and
  • which skills/what kind of knowledge the learners of a foreign language should be aiming at

The other articles in this unit are:

Communicative language teaching – CLTCognitive approach to learning
Constructive approach to learning
CLT – 10 skill areas
Methods, learning styles, strategies and profiles
Four types of learners
Differentiation, introduction
Differentiation, how to apply
Using the mother tongue in teaching English
Behaviouristic approach to learning
N.B. CLT ideas are discussed in nearly all articles

The articles above clarify the history of CLT, the ideas that CLT was based on. The behaviouristic approach is included out of interest and it is contrasted with the CLT philosophy.

See the summary of the differences between the traditional and CLT methods below.

The CLT ideas have been developed since mid-1970s and it is still the most widely approved approach to language teaching even if new ideas are still added to it. However, it seems to me that in many countries teachers are not successfully applying CLT principles and that is the very reason I am writing these articles.

Linguists and teachers in favour of CLT emphasize the students’ ability to communicate orally in versatile and appropriate ways in many situations in contrast to mastering partially only language-related skills such as reading and writing.

In CLT there is a tendency away from teacher-oriented grammar-based lessons with a lot of controlled exercises towards learner-oriented situations where the students can be more creative in their language use working mainly orally in pairs or groups without being afraid of making mistakes.

How does CLT differ from traditional methods?

In CLT lessons students work mostly orally in pairs and groups learning all language skills without any fear of making mistakes. The teacher organizes the lessons and remains in the background.

TRADITIONAL APPROACH

Are these your principles?

  1. Teacher-oriented lessons, strict control on everything, little freedom in class
  2. No belief that students can learn on their own without a teacher
  3. Learning by listening quietly to the teacher and taking notes
  4. Focus on grammar, reading and vocabulary
  5. Focus on one or two skill areas, teacher controls every stage of the lesson, no differentiation
  6. Teachers make all decisions and remain an authoritative figure, little feedback to students
  7. Teachers teach, control, correct mistakes and evaluate
  8. Drills, gap-filling and memorization, little thinking required
  9. Students sit quietly at their desks raising hands
  10. Teachers talk most of the lesson and interrupt learning, speaking is not favoured
  11. Mistakes are corrected in speech, even in public
  12. Teaching is based on following the official syllabus and textbooks, seldom any extra materials
  13. Little attention is paid on how learning can be effective, new ideas are not tried out
  14. Assessment is based on exams at the end of course, only some skill areas are tested

CLT APPROACH

Or are these principles yours?

  1. Learner-oriented lessons, teachers help students and organize classes
  2. Students learn well and enjoy learning in pairs and groups
  3. Learning by doing, students are responsible for their own learning
  4. Focus on messages getting through and fluency
  5. Focus on all aspects of language and development of oral skills, differentiation is made use of
  6. Students take responsibility too, have a say in how things get done and expect constant feedback
  7. Teachers become organizers and facilitators of learning
  8. Task- and inquiry-based collaborative activities, role play, work stations, intensive thinking
  9. Pair and group work involving talk between students
  10. The students talk a lot in lessons using the target language, the teacher is in the background
  11. Students are not afraid of making mistakes, it is natural
  12. Teaching is based on students’ needs/the purpose of the tasks, textbook + lots of other materials
  13. Students are also taught study skills and learning strategies, student profiles are observed
  14. Continuous follow-up of learning with positive feedback, all language skills are tested and evaluated, self- and peer-assessment
The first time I took students to London and Oxford was in 1986 and I cannot find a better ‘carrot’ or incentive than a trip like that to make the students talk in English a lot.

Something must be wrong when the language skills of so many students remain so modest! Are the teachers truly applying CLT ideas?

My own priorities at the early stage of my CLT application

  • 1. Learning to apply CLT principles takes quite a while and both the teacher and the students have to be patient. With beginners and mixed-ability classes the best approach is to have learner-oriented lessons based on textbook chapters first and then gradually introduce new techniques. See my detailed introduction to textbook-based approach.
  • 2. In a mini-scale CLT principles can be applied from the very beginning but demanding CLT activities require a few years of learning the language.
  • 3. WORDS are vital in sending messages. More important than grammar. It is possible to communicate without grammar but hardly without words. Still, CLT is about teaching all language skills.
  • 4. The priority order of language skills should be based on what is needed in real life. Oral skills can be combined with all other skills!
  • 5. Speaking is a vital skill in real life. So we should practise real-life situations in role-plays and express our opinions and ideas even if our language may not be accurate. Never mind the mistakes!
  • 6. Speaking is by far the quickest way in practising writing thanks to transfer effects.
  • 7. There is a logical order in developing the skills when a new language is taught and learned by beginners.
  • 8. The importance of the language skills change when the students start to master the language so we have to tailor our courses according to the needs of the students.
  • 9. Grammar is only a tool and should be linked to speaking exercises and games, not only have traditional written tasks.
  • 10. The pupils and students can take responsibility from the very beginning by working hard in pairs and groups We teachers tend to do too much of the work for them.
  • 11 . ALL THE LANGUAGE SKILLS SHOULD BE INTERWOVEN IN THE LESSONS, the proportion in each lesson is to be decided by the teacher. Of course occasionally we focus on one particular skill area (grammar, listening or cultural knowledge, for instance).

Is there a way to combine the traditional methods with CLT methods?

Yes, definitely there is. It is just what I did during the transition period. I kept all the good things but simply made them student-oriented.

The best way for school authorities to change the methods teachers use

  • is to make publishers write textbooks where the CLT principles are already applied and the teacher guide books and additional materials are easily available
  • is to change the structure of the final exams so that the exam tasks and scope follow the CLT principles

Don’t throw the student away with the bath water. In other words, make sure the change is for the better for the students.

So when we started to apply the communicative approach in the 1980s in Finland we got superb materials which made the transition smooth and in-service training effective.

I myself never gave up some of the old methods that I had found useful with low-achievers and in some mixed-ability classes. In practice one of my biggest discoveries was to let the students do all the things I myself used to do. As a result nearly all my previous activities were run by students. For example …

  • The students checked the homework exercises in groups.
  • Checking the understanding of a new text was done in groups, not by me. In weakest groups it meant translating parts of the text into the mother tongue.
  • The weakest student was using the gadget (tape recorder) when the class read the text aloud after the tape or CD.
  • My ready-made questions about the textbook chapter were answered in pairs without raising hands.
  • Workbook exercises were checked in pairs or groups. etc

The lessons turned much more enjoyable for everyone and I was free to help anyone who needed assistance. In CLT terms  having analyzed the needs of the students and set goals for the lesson at home, I became the organizer of the class and facilitator of learning at school.

I am quite sure nearly all teachers agree on the benefits of communicative language teaching but the problem has been how to apply the principles. Another reason is fear of creating chaos in class. However, do not let these reasons stop you trying. Study my step-by-step articles under the heading ‘The structure of a text-cased lesson’, tell your students what you are going to do and why. And hit the road! Personally I have never had any regrets!

So there is a way how to combine the ’safe’ teacher-oriented method with student-oriented approach with CLT principles. In these articles I try to justify my applications of CLT practices in plain terms without the theoretical linguistic jargon where the message is lost.

Old habits die hard … but changing over to CLT methods is something your students will thank you for.

Communicative teaching (CLT)

SPEAKING

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I never learnt to speak English at school. I swore to myself early in my teaching career I would never allow this to happen to my students.

Basically learning to speak a foreign language boils down to four things: There has to be a lot of INPUT, ORAL PRACTICE, REPETITION and TIME.

There is no excuse for teachers, if their students dare not speak English when they leave school.

If the use of the target language is not activated orally with quality materials and methods, if it is not done over and over again and if there is not enough time for it, learning is not possible or it is desperately slow. And still, it seems everybody wants to learn to speak English.

Three possible ways to learn to speak a foreign language

  1. It is taught and learnt in a systematic manner, like we do it in CLT lessons at school.
  2. It is learnt intuitively in an authentic environment over a long period of time, very much like we learn our mother tongue.
  3. It is partially learnt at school and activated in free time by talking to English-speaking people or playing interactive games headsets on, for example.

If we have a look at these three ways, we realize that Option 2 is not possible for many of us and the success of Option 3 is too random and dependent on the efforts of the individual.

The only option left is Option 1 and if the majority of students are not given a chance to learn to speak English, for example, at school, they will not learn it properly at all. Unfortunately this is exactly what happened to me and this is why I am writing these articles.

The only language I learnt to speak at school was German even if we never had any speaking tests and studied the language only for 2,5 years. We had six lessons a week, spent two lof them in a language laboratory working on a variety of exercises. And I can still speak German even if I have not studied it since 1973.

The vital lesson I learnt from my German teacher was simple: allow the students to talk between themselves with the language they master and have faith in them learning the spoken language.

Use it or lose it! How can the students learn to speak English if the teacher talks most of the time or makes them work silently on written tasks? NO WAY, spoken language is learnt by speaking a lot.

In this article i will answer the following three questions:

  • How does one learn to speak a foreign language?
  • What is the best method in teaching the students to speak a foreign language?
  • What modern techniques enhancing speaking skills are there to bring variation to foreign language lessons?

Many of the ideas related to teaching speaking have already been discussed under heading ‘The structure of a textbook-based lesson’, ‘Pronunciation’ and ‘Modern CLT group work methods’. Still, Latin ‘Repetition est mater studiorum’ = ‘Repetition is the mother of studies’.

The students start learning to speak English when the teacher stops talking – and gets them working in pairs or groups in English.

How does one learn to speak a foreign language?

  • by being exposed to the language not only at school but elsewhere too
  • by taking the trouble of learning words, phrases and expressions
  • by listening to others speak the language trying to understand the messages
  • by learning pronunciation by imitating native level speakers
  • by gradually internalizing grammar and social functions of the language

In short, by listening, practising and speaking a lot.

There is no one-way street in language learning. We are different and learn languages in different ways using our senses in our own style.

What all effective language learning methods share is the idea of doing a lot of things with the language. What really goes on in our brains in that process is still a bit of a mystery. Still, practice does it!

We learn to speak ...

  • by being brave and by enjoying speaking the target language with other students
  • by not being afraid that we are laughed at even if we do not always get our message through or if our pronunciation is not perfect
  • by not being afraid of making mistakes
  • by challenging ourselves and taking linguistic risks in new situations
  • by making utterances of our own and learning from others
The Tower of London, a must among London tourist attractions.

What is the best method in teaching the students to speak a foreign language?

The answer depends on the proficiency level of the students and the teacher is the best judge in choosing the method. Provided the teacher is aware of all the possibilities and can apply them well.

Any method that maximizes the time the students use the language and speak in class is good. The most popular approach these days is ‘Communicative Language Learning’ (= CLT) and most of the ideas presented in my articles are based on CLT principles. Speaking can be part of just about anything we do in class, even in learning vocabulary and cultural matters.

In CLT lessons we favour student-centred methods, principles and activities. In practice it means pair and group work in English and the teacher’s job is to organize and facilitate the tasks and assignments so that the teacher remains in the background and it is the students who talk.

If the students speak English 70 – 80 % of the time in lessons, things start happening. I have explained in detail how to do it in my articles under the horizontal main menu heading ‘THE STRUCTURE OF A TEXTBOOK-BASED LESSON’. The articles demonstrate how a teacher can easily turn teacher-oriented lessons to student-oriented ones.

What modern techniques enhancing speaking skills are there to bring variation to foreign language lessons?

First of all, it is vital in language lessons that the students do not always stay with the same people. In addition to regular changing of the composition or pairs and groups, there are methods such as station work, co-operative learning, task- based learning (TBL) and inquiry-based learning (IBL) which bring a lot of variation to the lessons.

All of the techniques have been explained in more detail with examples under heading ‘Modern CLT group methods’. In these lessons English often becomes a tool that is used to find information or solve problems. Learning to speak English becomes an enjoyable BYPRODUCT!

How can the students learn to speak English if the teacher talks most of the time or makes them work silently on written tasks? NO WAY, MOST TASKS HAVE TO BE ORAL!

My next articles in this unit deal with the following questions:

SpeakingSpeaking, teaching beginners
Testing speaking skills
How to use speaking criteria in evaluation
N.B. The topic is touched upon in most articles

Luckily the importance of speaking skills has been recognized in most countries and official speaking tests or exams with clear criteria are becoming part of the final examinations.

Communicative teaching (CLT), Modern group work

MODERN CLT GROUP WORK METHODS

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Student-centered lessons are vital in communicative language learning. I have earlier introduced my ideal model for dealing with textbook chapters. However, there are some special group work techniques or methods that are extremely effective and increase student motivation by offering another kind of approaches to the learning process.

They are typically practical extensions to what we do in class, roads leading to deep-level learning. Teaching the students not only linguistic skills but other skills needed in life, too.

‘Work stations’ lessons, Task-based and Inquiry-based lessons and Co-operative group work are ideal types of lessons if you need to introduce new effective and motivating methods in class.

I will introduce these techniques here by giving a general definition and deal with them in the following articles separately. In the long run I hope to be able to present a practical video on each of these techniques.

Any of these techniques is effective and ideal as a CLT lesson since the students are using English actively in groups and the teacher is in the role of a facilitator of learning. Learning takes place in a relaxed atmosphere without pressure and many other skills are enhanced in addition to learning English.

N.B. I have added lots of phrases to be used when you are giving instructions to the students on these techniques. See ‘Class instructions in pair and group work’ .

Work station technique

The teacher organizes the students in 4-5 groups that have different kind of tasks. Each group works for 8 -10 minutes at their table, checks the answers and moves on to the next table with different tasks. (Times depend on the length of lessons, of course). I recommend the use of work station approach in ordinary textbook lessons and in exam revisions, 10 minute bursts with a change in tasks.

Task-based learning

Task-based learning (TBL) is typically a group or pair activity where the target language is used in roleplay type of ‘real-life’ situations or to enhance the learning of some grammatical structure to achieve some communicative purpose. TBL is an excellent method in teaching everyday situations such as ‘at the airport’ and ‘at a restaurant’ but also when the focus is on some grammatical structure.

Inquiry-based learning

In principle inquiry-based learning (IBL) means that student groups use critical thinking and try to answer a question or solve a problem by using the target language every step of the way. For example: Which fruit and vegetables do you eat in your family and why? What does a healthy diet look like?

Co-operative learning

Co-operative learning is the most demanding form of group work for the teacher to arrange. It means first having an inquiry based group work followed by mixing the groups.

These new groups will have one member from each previous groups. Then each student explains the others what they learnt in their old group. In the end if time allows, everyone will go back to their first group to summarize what they have learnt.

This method may seem daunting but trust me. When you have done it once, it is ok. Just a little more planning and organizing. For example: What are the benefits and dangers with various sources of energy? What should you take into account if you are applying for a summer job?

I can hear you asking ‘Where do I find time to use any of these techniques? Yes, I used to think that way too. The reality is that most of our lessons are spent on dealing with textbook chapters. Nevertheless, if you follow my advice on how to speed up the process with the chapters or even skip some of them, you will find time for these techniques too. Any of these lessons are appreciated by the students.

Communicative teaching (CLT), Historical perspectives

ASSESSMENT OF and FOR LEARNING

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The quality of the student-centred learning process (AfL) is actually more important than the final results of the exams (AoL).

If you test and use the results to give grades, it is AoL. If you test and use the result to help the students, it is AfL. But AfL is much more …

Assessment for learning (AfL) consists of all the measures that the teacher and the students take while learning in order to make learning more pleasant, relaxing and effective. The best teachers have always done it automatically using formative tests, continuous assessment and personal feedback as a tool.

What the CLT researchers have done is that they have laid the scientific foundation for AfL to balance the over-rated importance of constant grading and exams (AoL).

Assessment of learning (AoL) refers to the traditional ways of evaluating students using summative exams, mostly at the end of the learning period.

In brief, the concept of AfL

  • was developed from formative and continuous assessment
  • but is more focused on the process of learning, learning styles and strategies
  • emphasizes the students’ role in assessing themselves and others
  • favours student-centered methods and feedback that enhances learning.

In short, using assessment of AoL

  • means checking towards the end of the course to what extent the goals of the course have been reached
  • This type of testing is discussed at the end of each skill area under the left-hand side menu topics ‘Vocabulary’, ‘Speaking’, ‘Pronunciation’, ‘Listening’, Reading comprehension’ and ‘Grammar’.

AoL and AfL compared

Assessment of LearningAssessment for Learning
AoL 10% of teaching timeAfL 90 % of teaching time
N.B. The percentages above simply indicate which kind of assessment I personally consider vital.
  1. The focus is on final results, summative exams and giving grades.
  2. The student is classified: excellent – good – satisfactory – bad.
  3. AoL takes mostly place at the end of the learning period in an examination marked by the teacher. Little analysis of what may have gone wrong.
  4. AoL means strict teacher-centred control, individual (not pair / group) accomplishments are valued.
  5. Little attention is paid to ways of learning and development of skills, mainly the content of the course is tested.
  1. The focus is on the learning process and ways to enhance learning.
  2. The student is compared with his/her previous performance.
  3. AfL takes place all the time, done by the teachers or other students, not to give a grade but to guide the learning process, individual needs are taken into account
  4. AfL is more like giving guidance and positive feedback to others continuously, the teacher in the background
  5. A lot of time is spent on learning strategies and how to improve language skills, knowledge of the content is tested but the ‘side products’ of AfL are recognized.

You may wonder if you should be worried about not always knowing if you are applying AfL or AoL. No, definitely not.

The borderline between AoL and AfL can, in fact, be a line drawn on water. Wise teachers have always, at least subconsciously, done both for the benefit of their students.

How come? For example, if you have a practice lesson before the examination and the exam is analysed afterwards when the papers are returned to enhance learning, AoL and AfL are intertwined, in my opinion, in an ideal manner. Any AoL exams that make the teacher realize that the goals were not reached and some remedial actions are required, turn the original AoL exams into AfL exams simultaneously.

Over the last fifteen years more and more attention has been paid to the process of learning which we teachers are trying to make as smooth and effective and enjoyable as possible. These measures are what we call ‘Assessment for Learning’ and they are utilized from the beginning of the course till the end until it is the time for the summative exam.

In the past learners of foreign languages were terrified of making mistakes and the fear of embarrassing yourself in front of others prevented learners from being fully engaged in learning. Thanks to the ideas of communicative learning teachers realized the message getting through to the listeners/readers was more important than the accuracy of the language. Application of CLT and AfL principles is a highly recommended combination in any language class.

No-one makes mistakes on purpose (unless they are joking). If the message is understood, the mistakes do not usually matter at all. We make mistakes even in our mother tongue. Why should we worry about them when learning a new language?

In the end, the success of our language lessons is measured in how well our students cope with the language in real life, not which grades they were granted.

The next two articles deal with the tools you can use in class to apply the principles of AfL.

About me and the blog, Communicative teaching (CLT)

MY HISTORY AS A LEARNER AND TEACHER OF ENGLISH

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I still remember the fear when I decided I have to change the way I’m teaching English! What if I make a fool of myself? What if I become a laughing stock in the school and in front of the parents?

That was in the autumn of 1986. All that fear was gone in a week when I saw what was happening in my classes.

Over the last 50 years language teaching has gone through some major changes aiming at better and better teaching and learning. Even if the methodology has been drastically changed many teachers are are still unsure how to make the changes needed. How to apply the principles of communicative language learning (CLT).

We all want our students to enjoy our lessons, to speak and write English well, or whatever language we are teaching. We want to help and encourage our students to reach their full potential as language learners and human beings.

I remember the fear I had when I changed my style of teaching. What if I make a fool of myself? What if I become a laughing stock in the school and in front of the parents? But I wanted to do my job well and I had no other choice than take the risk. I told my students about my plans and the reasons for the changes I was about to make and they agreed to give it a try. And we never went back to what the lessons used to be like.

The basic questions are still the same: What is the best and most effective way to teach and learn a foreign language? What kind of language lesson would I myself enjoy?

The translation method was used up to the 1970’s: translating texts from English into the mother tongue and vice verca focusing on grammar with a very limited view on other language skills.

I myself am a child of this period, graduated from high school in 1973 and could not speak English at all when I started to study English at Oulu University in Finland. I never heard the teacher speak English freely, we students never spoke or heard recorded English in class, no recordings were available, hands were raised for the answer and we stood up, answered and sat down one at a time. We were nice students who could stand the process since we knew of nothing better.

Until – we realized the new German teacher’s methods were effective: a lot of reading aloud in class, dealing with the chapters properly in groups and spending two hours a week in the language lab speaking German, recording and listening to ourselves speaking. Hely Laitinen, the teacher, was 20 years ahead of her time. Six German lessons a week for two years – and I can still speak German even if I learnt it 50 years ago and have not used it very much. One of the miracles of my limited brain capacity.

It was actually amusing that when I got in the university to study English and Swedish I could not speak the languages more than at an elementary level since we had not practiced speaking at school and there was no other source available in those days. Of course I Iearnt to speak both langauges quite well in a year but still, I was 19 years of age at that time. What a waste! Still, it is a comforting story for my students: It is never too late to learn to speak a language!

In the early 1980’s the audio-lingual method was introduced in Finland, which meant a step forward towards real usage of language and developing speaking, listening and writing in particular. New methological approaches were introduced and teachers started to use English recordings, students timidly spoke for a few minutes in each lesson and writing tasks were given to the students. Nevertheless, the full potential of CLT was not understood.

I did my compulsory one-year teacher training in 1979 – 1980 in a training school in Oulu in northern Finland. The teaching methods were very teacher-oriented even if there were glimpses of students working in pairs and groups. After the teacher training I taught English, Swedish and Finnish in a local prison and was a part-time teacher in a couple of other schools until I got a permanent position as a teacher trainer in English in Oulu University teacher training school.

In the 1970s suggestopedia developed by Georgi Lozanov brought many new ideas into language teaching even if it was considered to be too different a style to be used continuously. Thanks to suggestopedia we started to eliminate the barriers of learning aiming at more relaxed lessons where all human senses were made use of while the students were working in pairs or groups. Music and language games were made use of. The students felt relaxed and were not afraid of making mistakes when speaking and working together. I personally felt better thanks to the changes but I was still not pleased.

My hometown Oulu by the Gulf of Bothnia, northern Finland

It was an in-service course in southern Finland that changed my style of teaching permanently. On the way back to Oulu I had an incredibly illuminating discussion with professor Irma Huttunen who had been one of the lecturers in the course. She had recently finished her doctoral thesis on autonomous learning and I was absolutely fascinated by her ideas and what she had learnt while applying the ideas in her own classes.

I spent the weekend developing the new approach to the texts in the English books and how the time in the class was to be spent. On the following Monday morning I had a double lesson with senior high students and I said to them that I hated much of what we did in my own lessons and that I wanted to try out something new with them. I explained what I thought was wrong in our system and what and why I was going to do with them in the future.

We agreed on a two-week trial period and would come back to the old style if the new style turned out to be disasterous. We never went back. It was 1986 and most of the principles I came up with at that time served me until I retired a couple of years ago. Of course there have been many methological advances since then but the student-centred approach is still valid today.

In the 1990’s it was finally realized that English and languages in general are to be learnt with true real-life skills in mind: the principles of communicative language teaching became more and more popular. Teachers realized that they have to teach not only all the language skills but also about the culture of the target language as well as study skills. The emphasis on speaking skills was a natural consequence of student-oriented methods. Luckily, the ministeries of education in most countries have understood the same things and the skills are also tested in the final exams, which forces teachers to these these skills in class as well.

Still the biggest changes were seen in classes themselves:

  • The teachers’ role began to change and they were more organizers of the lessons than the ones actually speaking and teaching all the time. Their job was to make learning possible as faciliators of learning.
  • Students were not evaluated only on the basis of exams but their activity level and participation in class was also taken into account. Learning for life, not for grades and exams, was acknowledged.
  • The third change was the introduction of the use of computer programmes and modern technology in lessons.
Turku Teacher Training School – renovated six years ago

The 21st century has seen this tendency taken further in many ways:

  • classes and methods have become more student-oriented
  • the objectives for language learning lessons now cover all skill areas
  • time is devoted to enhance the students’ study and social skills
  • the teacher has become more an organizer of learning than the one who talks about the language
  • assessment is not based only on tests and exams
  • learning strategies and styles, how to learn effectively are actively taught
  • instead of memorization we now emphasize understanding and application of the language
  • modern technology and the internet are made use of and they provide us with plenty of opportunities in distance learning
  • even final examinations are taken via the internet in many countries

The internet became a valid source for new information and publishers introduced computer materials that were directly linked to the textbooks used. Even exams can now be taken in special exam locations at a time chosen by the students themselves. The goals set for the 21st century are becoming reality.